Yes agree, having given the 959 demo a quick look over today, I'm so pleased I picked up one of the last 899's new in October. (Please don't take offence any 959 owners reading this, each to there own)
I did gun it a bit, but that was just when seeing what the slipper clutch was all about. I literally just let go of the lever to see if it would deal with it, but it didn't particularly, so went back to letting it out slowly as I do on my bike
Did you get the click on the clutch leaver when you pull in the leaver on the 959 ?,with my stm slipper on the 899 there is a click when pulling in clutch leaver and as a example from silly speeds in say 5th drop it down a couple of gears and just release the clutch and the clutch sorts it out with no dramas,tbh the slipper clutch only comes into it own when on track,cant say i ever feel the need to use it on the road,if you are not aggressive with your downshifts you would never know you have one installed.
I didn't realise the 959 had a slipper clutch. I know the 899 didn't but, doesn't EBC over come the need for one?
No because the slipper clutch matches the engine speed to road speed by slightly disengaging the clutch. They're really handy especially when is greasy or wet and on track
Yeah I've had bikes with them before. It was a shock when I did the Ron Haslam race school... CBR600's don't have them apparently?! I've got to be honest, the EBC seems good enough for me on the road at least; I've tried it with a few aggressive down changes and it seems to handle it well.
I think the ebc is more for adjusting how much you want the engine breaking to slow the bike down off throttle rather than allowing you to aggressively or quickly back shift. It seems they have tried to make the panigale more Japanese so you have the option to make it more like an inline 4 instead of a v twin with lots of engine braking I remember the sp-1 I rode years ago and without a slipper clutch it worse very difficult to ride as the rear wheel wanted to lock all the time on down shifts. The slipper clutch will reduce the wheel hop, safe the engine from over revving and keep the bike more stable as you go down the box to quickly where the ebc really just effects how much you want to allow the bike to run on on or slow down on a closed throttle.
Curiosity was getting the better of me so I had to look it up and it seems I was right.... There's a first! Technical Specification - Ducati 899 Panigale
EBC probably does replicate a slipper clutch in reducing the chance of the back wheel locking up during quick down shifts but it won't protect the engine if you down shift quick and engine speed to road speed is not matched as the engine and back wheel are still engaged. A slipper clutch will allow it to slip or freewheel a bit until engine speed and road speed are matched so you still have engine braking and also saves the bike a bit The ebc real reason is to reduce or adjust the big engine braking vtwins have if required not really to act like a slipper clutch.
Yeah good point on engine protection. I suppose Ducati fitting one to the 959 proves the benefit over EBC hey?!
ebc does nothing like a slipper clutch bang it in first at 70 mph see if ebc works my mates got ktm same , no slipper but got similar to ebc no slipper clutch like going back to the 80,s
Ebc just reduces engine brake always got mine set to min so as not to affect pitch of bike while cornering if you chop the throttle , almost like a 2 Stoke no engine brake
Off topic I know but it's great to see 'Jack Shit' is still alive and kicking! Always rated Andy Sparrow's work (he's still doing it now!) and Jack was always so much cooler than Ogri.